Background
Living heritage encompasses the traditions, knowledge and skills communities practise and pass on, from crafts and performing arts to customs, sports and food.
After joining UNESCO’s Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2024, the UK began work towards its first Living Heritage inventories.
Having already redeveloped UKNC’s main website, NB was appointed to develop the platform through which communities could contribute to this national endeavour.
Challenge
The public journey needed to work for people with different languages, backgrounds and levels of digital confidence. Detailed submissions, including supporting evidence and community consent, had to feel manageable.
Behind the scenes, UKNC and DCMS needed to identify related proposals, maintain correspondence and coordinate translators and review panels. Our task was to turn those interdependent requirements into a system that worked for everyone involved.
Solution
Working closely with UKNC and DCMS, we mapped the journey from initial Expression of Interest (EOI) through to full submission and review, translating the project’s requirements into practical digital workflows.
The website brings the Living Heritage identity to life through engaging design, accessible layouts and multilingual content. A staged process allows communities to register their interest before preparing a detailed submission.
Multilingual support was required across the entire site, covering both web pages and submission forms, in seven languages: English, Cornish, Gaelic, Irish, Scots, Ulster Scots, and Welsh.
Within the CMS, we developed a bespoke management module connecting contributor information with the administrative tools needed to progress each submission.